It may not be the dream scenario that many Liverpool fans would have hoped for, but at the end of the day, their club’s name will still be inked on the Premier League trophy.
And that is what counts.
غادر المخضرم جيانلويجي بوفون، صفوف فريقه يوفنتوس الإيطالي للمرة الثانية، وأعلن نهاية مسيرته مع السيدة العجوز.
لم يفصح بوفون بعد عن وجهته المقبلة حتى الآن، ونشر الحساب الرسمي ليوفنتوس – عبر موقع “إنستجرام” – مقطع فيديو لمقابلة مع الحارس صاحب الـ 43 عامًا.
ستنشر المقابلة كاملة يوم 30 مايو الجاري، لكن حساب يوفنتوس نشر جزء بسيط منها، تحدث خلاله بوفون عن رحلته مع اليوفي.
اقرأ أيضًا.. ساسولو يؤكد اهتمامه بالتعاقد مع بيرلو
وقال بوفون: “اخترت أن ألعب ليوفنتوس وهذا شيء منحني السعادة، أشعر بأنني محظوظ”.
ونشرت صحيفة “توتو سبورت” جزء من تصريحات بوفون في المقابلة، وأضاف: “التواجد في يوفنتوس يشبه الحصول على درجة الماجستير في كرة القدم”.
وأكد: “لقد تشرفت بتمثيل هذا العالم وهؤلاء المشجعين، وهم كثيرون جدًا”.
Sunderland fans were left to throw the blame on a variety of people after their defeat against Burton on Tuesday evening.Phil Parkinson received the brunt of the abuse, taking stick from supporters who hoped Kevin Phillips would replace him.Midfielder Grant Leadbitter was also the subject of frustration from fans but Joel Lynch has been made another scapegoat.[ad_pod ]The defender put in a rather strange performance as his mentality didn’t look right for large portions of the game.One fan suggested he went to bits in the second half, citing a backpass to goalkeeper Lee Burge with Sunderland trailing in the dying embers.A further individual accused him of not being switched on for the goal that eventually cost Sunderland a point.Lynch completed a measly 63.5% of his passes but did record a colossal six interceptions. That being said, he failed to deliver in some of the key moments.The 32-year-old has featured eight times for Parkinson’s side in 2019/20, winning 5.4 aerial duels per game along the way.Here’s the best of the reaction to his display in midweek.
Meanwhile, check out what Sunderland fans have been saying about Kevin Phillips…
Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal has expressed his desire to reunite with Antonio Conte at Internazionale, as reported by El Mercurio, via FC Inter News.
Shanghai SIPG are said to have made the 32-year-old a lucrative financial offer, but he has turned it down in the hope of being able to play under Conte, as he did at Juventus.
Barcelona have valued the Chilean midfielder at €15m, though they have also stated that they would rather allow Ivan Rakitic to leave, as opposed to Vidal.
Vidal is reportedly tired of being a backup option, as has been the case under Ernesto Valverde this season, feeling that he needs to be playing more games, something he has already expressed openly.
Across La Liga and the Champions League, the midfielder has started just 2 games, adding another 7 substitute appearances, amassing a total of 297 minutes, as per WhoScored.
He may have been used sporadically from the bench, but the veteran has still averaged 2.4 tackles, 0.4 interceptions and 0.6 clearances per game, while also completing 86% of his attempted passes.
Bringing in Vidal would be a good move from Conte, despite the lack of game time the midfielder has had this term, especially considering the fact the Inter manager has managed to get the best out of him in the past.
Inter fans, would you like to see Vidal join your club? Join the discussion by commenting below…
This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Charlton travel to the Hawthorns this Saturday to take on a West Brom side who are flying right now.
Slaven Bilic’s men are sitting pretty at the top of the Championship table having lost just one of their 13 league games this season – the Baggies have amassed 26 points and are two points clear of 2nd-place Leeds.
In Charlton’s case, Lee Bowyer’s side suffered heartbreak last time out after they saw what was a 1-0 lead over Bristol City turn into a 2-1 defeat, with Josh Brownhill scoring a 97th minute winner.
Despite the loss, the Addicks still sit comfortably in 10th, just five points behind West Brom.
If they are serious about making up ground on the Midlands-based side, then here are two players they must pay close attention to…
Grady Diangana
The on-loan West Ham man has been in fine form so far this season since arriving from the London Stadium.
Diangana has scored four goals and registered three assists in just eight Championship starts, while also winning two WhoScored Man of the Match awards.
In addition to that, the 21-year-old has some healthy-looking attacking averages. Diangana records 1.6 shots, two key passes and 2.8 dribbles per game in the Championship, and is also fouled 1.3 times per game on average.
Matheus Pereira
Another on-loan star is Brazilian attacker Matheus Pereira. The 23-year-old arrived from Sporting Lisbon on a season-long loan back in the summer, and has had an excellent start to life in England.
Pereira has scored three goals and grabbed four assists in the same amount of starts as Diangana, while the diminutive Brazilian also gets involved heavily in the final third.
West Brom’s No.12 records two shots per game and 2.4 key passes per game, and is fouled by the opposition 2.7 times per game on average – going off that last statistic, he has proven to be a handful for the opposition to contain.
If Bowyer and Charlton allow the Baggies’ loan duo to run riot on Saturday, they will likely be travelling back to The Valley empty-handed.
Everton fans are trying to piece together what Marco Silva should do following the disastrous injury to Bernard.
The Brazilian suffered a knee injury against Brighton & Hove Albion, and the club are waiting on further help from experts to determine his best route to recovery.
It is such unfortunate luck for Everton and with Bernard’s injury and another three points dropped, it seems things are just going from bad to worse for the blue half of Merseyside.
Some fans are now calling for Gylfi Sigurdsson back in the number 10 spot, which would most likely force Alex Iwobi out to the left again, despite his form in that role.
Other fans believe now is the ideal time to introduce Anthony Gordon – the youth star has six goals in eight games for the U23s.
Also, it does seem that a lot of fans have completely overlooked the unfortunate injury and simply called for Silva to resign, whilst some supporters want to see Moise Kean again.
Regardless of who should start, the times do once again look very bleak for Everton.
Here’s what some fans have suggested the boss should do next…
دخل ماسون مونت تاريخ نادي تشيلسي ودوري أبطال أوروبا، بعد هدفه أمام بورتو في المباراة الجارية حاليًا.
ويلتقي الفريقان في إطار منافسات ذهاب ربع نهائي البطولة.
وتمكن ماسون مونت من تسجيل الهدف الأول لصالح تشيلسي في الدقيقة 32. هدف مونت أمام بورتو
وحسب شبكة “أوبتا” العالمية، فإن مونت يُعد أصغر هداف على الإطلاق في تاريخ تشيلسي في مراحل خروج المغلوب في دوري أبطال أوروبا.
وأوضحت أن مونت يبلغ من العمر حاليًا 22 عامًا و87 يومًا.
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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Aston Villa have struggled to adapt to life in the top-flight so far this season and several of their players’ performances have contributed to that.
The west Midlands club are outside the relegation zone after five matches purely on goal difference alone with just one win to their name.
Defensively, they are one of the top sides in the Premier League having kept two clean sheets which ranks first, tied with six other clubs.
However, it is in attack where their problem lies.
On Monday evening, Villa struggled to secure three points against a ten-man West Ham with Wesley proving focal to their struggles, as Football FanCast mention here.
But the players around him just haven’t been up to scratch either.
Between their three wingers, there has only been one assist and one goal with Anwar El Ghazi registering the highest average rating at 6.62, per WhoScored.
Watch Aston Villa Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
On the Chalkboard
Villa boss Dean Smith poached Jota from arch-rivals Birmingham City, but he’s yet to show the form he displayed just three miles down the road.
Last season, the Spaniard was vital to the Blues’ season, scoring three goals on top of laying on 11 assists. The majority of which would have contributed to Che Adams’ goal-laden spell in front of goal as he netted 22 in the Championship.
Now at Villa, he has quite clearly regressed in such a short space of time – his average shots per game has gone from 1.6 to a measly 0.4 while a similarly drastic drop is seen with the number of key passes he registered going from 2.1 to just 0.8 this campaign – all per WhoScored.
With the current system clearly not quite working in the Premier League, perhaps it would be wise to test Jota centrally, a position Smith deployed him in on a few occasions when the pair were both at Brentford.
Width is quite clearly an issue, so the 28-year-old’s qualities may be better served in the middle where his awareness and nous would be allowed to thrive closer to the striker.
His assist for Wesley’s first and only goal of the season could provide further proof as to why it would work out as he came inside and then fed a delightful ball into the area.
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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Speaking on talkSPORT, Tony Cascarino has insisted Manchester City star Raheem Sterling is better than Neymar and is on course to win the Ballon d’Or in the future.
The England international had a barn-storming season last year at the Etihad, registering 25 goals and 18 assists in 51 appearances across all competitions.
The start to this campaign has been no different, with Sterling bagging himself a hat-trick in the opening game win over West Ham, and scoring a total of five Premier League goals in four games.
Watch Manchester City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
Now, Cascarino has revealed the 24-year-old is amongst the five best players in the world, and is already better than PSG superstar Neymar.
He said: “I would definitely argue he’s in the top five players in the world. If you were to put him on the market tomorrow, Man City wouldn’t take £150m for him. If he continues to improve, he’ll become the first or second (best player in the world) and probably win the Ballon d’Or along the way.
“Who would you rather have: Neymar or Sterling? I’d have Sterling as a player. Try to ignore the antics that have gone on with Neymar off the field, I actually think Sterling’s better on the field. His numbers are better and he’s playing in a better team. I’ve seen Neymar do things that no other footballer can do in the game, like a ‘Harlem Globetrotter’ footballer. But if you want a player to be brilliant for the team and score goals at the rate Neymar can, Sterling’s your man.”
In a world where Ousmane Dembele can fetch well over £100m, then Sterling perhaps is worth £150m. But is he in the top five players in the world? The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and maybe even teammate Kevin De Bruyne, just to name a few, would all have their disagreements with that.
Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…
But Sterling has improved his game no-end since really bursting on to the scene with Liverpool. His work under Pep Guardiola has seen him develop dramatically, and his goal-scoring record is something to behold. The five-yard tap-ins he is becoming renowned for show someone who is continuing to learn and hone his craft. They are not a sign of luck, but a sign of a player with top-notch positioning determined to do one thing and one thing only – score goals.
However, if he is to count himself amongst the world’s elite, then he will have to do it over a consistent period of time. Keep firing in the goals on a regular basis for both club and country, and very few will be able to argue against the England international’s place in the top five.
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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
Kilmarnock have quoted a £3m price tag for their left-back Greg Taylor, as Celtic enquire about the potential Kieran Tierney replacement, according to The Daily Record.
What’s the story?
Per the report, Neil Lennon’s men contacted Killie this week to discuss the 21-year-old’s future and ask how much the club wanted for the left-back. They then retorted with the £3m figure, a fee that the Celts are unlikely to stretch to, despite wanting another left-sided defender in.
Watch Celtic Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
Having lost Tierney to Arsenal and Emilio Izaguirre to Motagua, those at Parkhead feel another left-back is needed. Despite signing Boli Bolingoli for £3m, the club believe that another body is needed to provide the Belgian with competition this season.
However, even after being quoted at £3m, the Celts are reportedly set to open the bidding at £1m and potentially a player going the other way on loan. But with the window closing on the 2nd of September, there’s not a lot of haggling time left for the Celts.
Just get it done
It’s not the time to worry over the cost of a potential new arrival with such little time left in the window.
In Taylor, Celtic would be signing a player more than capable at Premiership level and one who has shown the step-up to international football to be easy. He made his debut in Belgium, against the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard, and more than held his own.
The 21-year-old should be brought in not just because he’s a good player, but because Bolingoli could be the opposite. It’s early in the Belgian’s Parkhead career, but there have been ominous signs that he looks more like a Cristian Gamboa style full-back than a Mikael Lustig success story.
Bringing in Taylor would allow Lennon to give Bolingoli a proper bedding in period, rather than throwing him in at the deep end, like he’s doing now, and then being surprised by his lack of confidence after struggling.
While £3m may seem a little steep for a defender who has only played in Europe twice, the club will surely want to avoid a repeat of the John McGinn shambles of last summer and just bring in the player capable of strengthening a depleted squad.
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